Political battle has scrambled our civility

Larry Lauer has had to clean eggs off his house in Wauwatosa after the family had placed a “Recall Walker” sign on the front lawn. He finally covered it with a sign that says: “You win. Please no more eggs.” Credit: Rick Wood

There's a yard sign in Wauwatosa that says, "You win. Please no more eggs."

It used to say, "Recall Walker."

You can guess the rest.

We're a bitterly divided state these days, and sometimes it gets ugly. The good news is that crap like this isn't pulled more often - by either side.

Larry and Connie Lauer happen to believe Gov. Scott Walker should be recalled. They have two grown kids who are teachers, and they think Walker went way too far by gutting collective bargaining for public employees. They believe Walker should have been clearer about his intentions when he was running for governor.

So they put the sign in their yard on Elm Spring Ave. It's a free country. We treasure the right to speak our minds.

On Dec. 16, the Lauers discovered that the sign had been vandalized. So Larry reinforced it with a sheet of Plexiglas from his garage. Four days later, the sign again was damaged and kicked over, and again Larry repaired it.

Early this month, Larry was relaxing in his living room when he heard something hit his front door. It was an egg. Later, he discovered that about four more eggs hit the second story of the house and the dining room windows.

He reported all three incidents to Wauwatosa police. After the egging, an officer who came to the house told Larry: "You've got leaded windows. Maybe you want to cut your losses before a rock comes through."

So Larry took some paper and paint, and he printed, "You win. Please no more eggs," and he covered his Recall Walker sign on both sides, protecting the new message with cling wrap.

"I feel like my freedom of speech has been taken away from me," he said when I stopped this week to ask about the sign.

Larry is retired from Milwaukee County's facilities management operation. The first two years there, he was in the union, but the last 28 years found him in management. Connie is a retired medical technologist who now works part time in health care lab services. She is a Democrat, and Larry calls himself an independent.

They have lived on the block for 17 years. They love their neighbors, and they have been impressed that several of them - even those who don't share the Lauers' political views - have stopped over to commiserate about the vandalism. Neighbor kids have been watching their yard and reporting any suspicious activity to them.

It's a guess, of course, that the egging was politically motivated. Smashing the sign itself certainly would seem to be. Larry climbed a ladder and used a brush and cleaning concoction to remove the egg from the house. It wasn't easy, but getting rid of the bitter taste of political bullying will take longer.

The sign will remain up for the time being, at least until it's clear that the recall election will go forward, Larry said.

Ben Sparks, communications director for the Republican Party of Wisconsin, condemned any act of political vandalism or threats. So did Graeme Zielinski, communications director for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.

Both sides said they have weathered unfortunate behavior, including threats to people circulating petitions and intimidation of those who declined to sign them. Signs of both camps have been damaged. Walker and his family have been threatened and harassed. Legislators have been hounded and doused with beer.

"This kind of behavior is completely unconscionable. It has no place in this process," Sparks said.

Zielinski passed on a chance to take what happened to the Lauer family and to spread the blame more generally. "I do not think this is representative of Scott Walker supporters. Even though people on our side want to say, yeah, they're all like that. They are not all like that."